Access to Utilities and Household facilities.

 Main source of lighting of dwelling unit

Table 8.8 shows the main source of lighting of dwelling unit by type of locality. The main source of lighting for most households (48.9%) is kerosene lamp. A higher proportion of households using kerosene lamp as their main source of light is higher in rural (62.4%) than urban areas (29.3%) Out of the urban households in the District, 57.8 percent use electricity with 19.7 percent in rural areas also using electricity as their main source of lighting.

Table 8.8: Main source of lighting of dwelling unit by type of locality

 Main source of cooking fuel, and cooking space used by households

The main source of cooking fuel in the District is wood (11,024) representing 59.3 percent of households whiles charcoal (6,131) constituting 33 percent is the second highest. This shows a clear indication of the level of pressure on the District’s forest reserves.

In terms of locality of residence, a higher proportion of households in the rural areas representing 80.4 percent use wood as compared to 19.6 percent households living in urban areas. Majority of households living in urban areas use more charcoal constituting 60.3 percent than those living in rural areas (14.2%).

The main source of cooking space used by households also shows that a higher proportion of the households use a Separate room for exclusive use representing 40.5 percent for domestic activities with urban and rural proportions of 32.9 percent and 45.7 percent respectively. Open space in compounds (23.4%)) is the next commonest cooking space used by households with urban and rural proportions of (28.8%) and (19.6%) households respectively.

Main source of cooking fuel, and cooking space used by households

 Main Source of Water for Drinking and for other Domestic use

The data revealed that about one-third (34.2%) of households in the District use the river/stream as their main source of drinking water. However, 44.6 percent of households in the rural areas use river/stream as their main source of drinking water as compared to 19.2 percent in urban areas of The District. Also, 16.3 percent of households in the District use public tap/standpipes as their main source of drinking water whilst 14.7 percent use pipe 52

borne water outside the dwelling. Only 10.0 percent of households use pipe borne water inside the dwelling for drinking.

As shown in Table 8.10, 38.3 percent of households use the river/stream as their main source of water for other domestic use. In rural areas the figure is 48.4 percent and in urban 23.6 percent. Also, 14.2 percent use pipe borne water outside the dwelling for domestic use. Only 10.2 percent of households use pipe borne water inside the dwelling for other domestic use. As indicated in Table 8.10, more than half (55.2%) of households living in the urban areas of The District have access to

pipe borne water whilst only 23.7 percent have access in the rural areas for domestic use.

 Main source of water of dwelling unit for drinking and other

domestic purposes

 Bathing and Toilet Facilities

An efficient and hygienic method of human waste disposal available in a dwelling unit is a critical indicator of the sanitary condition of the unit and is an indirect measure of the socio-economic status of a household. Table 8.11 shows that five main types of toilet facilities were reported in the 2010 PHC. The highest reported toilet facilities (or lack of it) used in the District are pit latrine 5,734 (30.9%), no toilet facility, 5,091 (27.4%), public toilet 4,837 (26.0%), Kumasi Ventilated Improved Pit Latrine (KVIP) is 2,301 (10.9%) and water closet, 721 (3.9%).

Households who practice no facility (bush, beach, and field) are more in the rural areas (35.0%). Also, households using WC are more in the urban areas constituting 8.1 percent whilst only 1.0 percent uses WC in the rural areas.

Regarding bathing facilities, a higher proportion of households (6,341) constituting 34.1 percent in the District have their own bathrooms for exclusive use. Out of the total rural households, (39.2%) and 26.7percent 68.1 percent in urban areas have own bathrooms for exclusive use. Again, 3,816 households representing 20.5 percent use shared open cubicle with (29.1. %) of the urban households and 14.6 percent of rural households practicing the same system

 Bathing facility and toilet facilities used by household

 Method of Waste Disposal

One of most intractable challenges of both urban and rural areas in Ghana is adopting modern and hygienic solid and liquid waste disposal systems. Acceptable waste management helps to prevent the spread of some types of infections and improves the quality of the environment.

As indicated in Table 8.12, a higher proportion of households 6,419 representing 34.6 use public dumps (open space) as their main source of refuse disposal. Out of the total rural households, 30.0 percent use public dumps (open space) as compared to 41.1 percent of the urban households. The next major form of solid waste disposal in the District is by burning by households where 5,250 (28.3%) households burn their solid waste.

In terms of liquid waste disposal, 12,232 (65.8%) of households dispose liquid waste indiscriminately by throwing onto compounds. Out of the total urban households, majority (55.3%) dispose liquid waste on compounds as compared to 73.1 percent in rural areas. There are only 173 (0.9%) households in the District who dispose their liquid waste through the sewerage system. Only 1.9 percent of households in urban areas and 0.3 percent of rural households dispose liquid waste through a sewerage system 18.5 percent in rural areas

 Method of rubbish and liquid waste disposal by households